The main hall in the CCH
The venue for the DGE Banquet
Don’t collapse with shock but here’s my second post of the year which will shortly be followed by the third and fourth as I post three articles about Lions Clubs International Convention 2013 in Hamburg, Germany.
The convention experience can be divided into three sections, Training for District Governors Elect, The Parade and The convention itself. This article will consider the three days of training ending with our DGE Banquet on Friday 5th July.
Barry Palmer addresses us
A panoramic view of the main hall
Each day of training, held in the Centrum Congress Hamburg (CCH) started with a general session for the DGE’s and their partners. The first day, Wednesday 3rd July, started with the opening ceremony and the introduction of our International President for 2013-14, Barry Palmer from Australia. The partners then had a session with presentations by four partners of international officers while we, the DGEs, headed for our classrooms. The other opening sessions were Barry’s theme, Follow Your Dream, of which more in a later post, and a presentation on the work of the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF), the charitable arm of the organisation. Each day ended with a general session summarising the day’s messages.
My group for the training comprised me, my fellow British Isles and Ireland DGEs, Chris from 105NE (Scotland and the north east of England), Liam from 105I (Ireland) and DGEs from California (4), Minnesota/Canada (4), New Jersey (4), New York (4), North Carolina (4), The Netherlands (6) and India (4). Our group leader, Tom, was a past international director from Kentucky and he managed the class brilliantly during the three days with a seemingly endless supply of good humour and patience.
Me with Doug from Canada and Margaret from California
Our leader Tom
Although we were a mixed cultural group we all obviously had Lions in common and all seemed to have received a similar level of training from our Multiple Districts prior to convention. The most important part of the training, in my opinion, though was the meeting of new friends from around the world some of whom will probably end up being friends for life. The training sessions were also an opportunity to receive invitations to some of the receptions being held by countries and states during the convention and to hand out the tickets we had been given for the British Isles and Ireland reception.
Our dream board under construction
Most of class just standing around at the end
I won’t take up too much more of your time with this post but I should at least let you know what our training comprised. On day one we started with a session on our dreams for our year in charge of our districts and the construction of a “Dream Board” summarising all our dreams in words and pictures. We then covered the Lions’ constitution and rules followed by a session on conflict resolution. Day 2 covered the international theme and our challenges and opportunities. Day 3 looked at communication, succession planning and a wrap up session ending with the presentation of certificates and a chaotic photo session.
Our group photo
My table at the banquet
The final event of the training days was the District Governor Elect Banquet, a formal dinner held in a large warehouse within the docks by the Elbe. It is a tradition within most districts, but not all, that the DG wears a white dinner jacket and this was our first opportunity to do so. The evening is then spent trying to avoid getting marks on the jacket which I managed despite drinking red wine and eating a selection of multi-coloured food. I also managed to meet up with the person I would like to be my international guest when I host our district convention in March. Kenneth from Sweden is an international director within Lions and is very pro social media, something dear to my heart.
My next post will cover the good and bad of the International Parade but for now goodbye.
Lion Simon Moss
@simonhmoss @MarstonGnLions @lions105m @lionsclubsorg
1820 miles travelled as 2nd VDG
1500 miles travelled as 1st VDG
700 miles travelled as DG
At least 1030 hours since 1 July 2011 on Lions’ activities
My Life as a Lion 
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